Mosaic Is Marvel's Newest Anti-Hero

At long last, Marvel has revealed the secret of the cryptic "Who Is Mosaic?" teasers. It turns out that Mosaic is the newest Inhuman to emerge in the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe, and he'll be starring in his own ongoing series this fall.

Vulture had the scoop on Mosaic, revealing that this new character will be more flawed and morally ambiguous than most of his fellow Inhumans. When his story begins, Morris Sackett is a vain, self-absorbed professional basketball player. However, after being exposed to the Terrigen Mists, Morris evolves into Mosaic, a "free-floating entity" who has to possess the bodies of others in order to survive. This ability can be incredibly useful, as Mosaic gains all the skills and knowledge of those he possesses, but it also forces Morris to deal with the physical limitations of his host bodies.

Mosaic #1 cover by Stuart Immonen

Mosaic was created by writer/actor Geoffrey Thorne (In the Heat of the Night) and artist Khary Randolph (Tech Jacket), who will be helming the ongoing Mosaic comic starting in October. First, however, the character will debut in a free 10-page story being offered at participating Barnes & Noble locations in August.

Randolph told Vulture that Mosaic is a unique addition to the Marvel lineup because of his complex morality. "Morris isn't a hero, or at least he doesn't see himself as one. He's not out to make the world a better place for anyone but Morris. Not at first. Nor is he a villain. He's not a malevolent person, just extremely self-obsessed. When Peter Parker first got his powers, he spent a few weeks using them to make money and to basically get his own back from a world that hadn't been very nice to him thus far. He gets over it with the death of his uncle and becomes the hero we all know. Morris lives in that space Peter only passed through and has no kindly Uncle Ben to teach him about power and responsibility. Morris is about Morris."

Mosaic concept art by Khary Randolph

Randolph also noted that he wants that complexity to extend to their depiction of Mosaic as a minority hero. "'Minority' characters are generally not allowed to have this nuance. Because they are relatively few, when they appear they have to be paragons of good or face some sort of social backlash. Morris is, frankly, more complex than that. His complexity is what makes him unique. To me, at any rate. I'm very pleased Marvel is letting me make Morris the fully rounded person that he needs to be for the story to work."

The free Mosaic preview comic will be released via Barnes & Noble on August 6, while Mosaic #1 will hit stores in October 2016.